Systems for osteosynthesis that comprise a bone plate have been known.
Published patent application DE 10 2010 025001 A1 discloses a bone plate, for example.
Such a bone plate is usually made of a rigid material, in particular metal or a surgical stainless steel. The bone plate has passages into which screws can be introduced.
Mostly, screws are used for fastening the bone plate to the bone fragments. For reliably anchoring the screws, they should be placed bicortically. For this purpose, an osteosynthesis system comprises screws of various lengths.
Problems are encountered in the treatment of periprosthetic fractures. In this case it is mostly impossible for the screw to be placed bicortically, since the medullary canal is blocked by the prosthesis.
Therefore, monocortical screws are often used in this case. However, such a connection is far less mechanically resistant. In many cases, even monocortical screws cannot be used due to the small distance between the bone plate and the prosthesis. Therefore, cerclage wires are employed which are wrapped around the bone. Such attachment also fails to provide great mechanical stability and may cause lesions of the periosteum.
Published patent application US 2010/0262194 A1 discloses an osteosynthesis system comprising auxiliary components attachable to the bone plate, through which bone screws can be introduced from a lateral side in order to be directed past the medullary canal.
However, this system is rather inconvenient, fails to sufficiently adapt to the respective anatomy of the patient in many cases, and is bulky.